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About Me

Born and brought up in Delhi, but from the age of 3 to the age of 8 in Amritsar and started school on holiday in Srinagar. Leaving Amritsar, at school for a year in Solan. Otherwise in Delhi, studying at J. D. Tytler School and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, then at St Stephen's College, where I eventually taught for 3 years. Then 3 years at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong. Political exile from India in 1976. Lived/studied/worked in Scotland for 3 years, England for 16 years and Switzerland since then.

Friday, January 16, 2009

I received the following mail from a friend of a friend, and put it here without comment, but in the meanwhile have obtained the kind permission of the author, Mr. Ranjan Kamath:

"Dear Friend

"The collective amnesia of the captains of Indian industry, Messrs.Tata, Mittal and Ambani embracing Narendra Modi and endorsing his candidature as future PM of India , disturbed me immensely.

"This petition is my humble effort to engage the conscience of corporate India and make it known to them that the Indian citizen is not to be trifled with.Just as we can vote for or against the poitician, we can pinch the corporate bottom-line in order to engage their attention to mend their ways.

"It is not an easy task for us to keep our cell phones and Blackberries switched off for an entire day on January 30th,- the 61st anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.

"However, it ought to be sufficient to get the message across to corporate India that we will not tolerate the endorsement of fascists as future Prime Ministers.

"May I request you visit the link below to sign and thereafter circulate the petition below, if you feel as strongly about this mattersincerelyRanjan Kamath The petition title is: Cellular Silence Day_30th January 2009. The petition URL is: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/30JAN09/petition.html

"The petition is directed to: India Inc. The start date is: January 15th, 2009 The end date is: January 30th, 2009

"The petition statement says:Dear Messrs, Ratan Tata, Sunil Mittal and Anil AmbaniI am one of a billion Indian citizens. I am somewhere in the middle of that pyramid that you wish to give voice - from bottom to top - through wealth creation.I am proud of the brands you represent that have made India proud. I am one of the burgeoning Indian middle-class that share your aspirations of mutating India from indolent elephant to thundering tiger.It ends there...I have hitherto been accused of being indifferent and apathetic, simply because I am overawed and felt overwhelmed in a system replete with Goliaths. But when I saw you embrace the fascist mastermind of state sponsored genocide as a future Prime Minister and endorse the Modi-fication of India, it was disappointingly apparent that the brands that aspire to make India rich shall continue to languish in ethical poverty. While I am filled with revulsion at your endorsement of Narendra Modi, I must respect your right to do so as a fellow citizen. In writing this petition I am a mere David amongst the mightiest corporate Goliaths but I feel empowered to address your collective amnesia - through recollection of the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 - by the true Goliath among Gujaratis in particular and Indians in general - Mohandas Gandhi. All those who sign this petition will switch off their Tata Indicomm, Airtel and Reliance cellular phone and broadband connections from midnight on January 30th 2009. It is eminently possible that I might be the one voice in a billion who will observe the 61st death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on as Cellular Silence Day. Then again, there might be close to a billion who could join me on January 30th, 2009 expressing their solidarity and silently insisting that the captains of India Inc adopt an ethical, compassionate path to wealth creation rather than the single-minded pursuit of the bottom-line. We shall know that by the end of 30th January, 2009______________________________________________________________________________________________
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2 comments:

i completely agree with the contents of the letter and that one has to think beyond monetary gains(alone) to be a good human being first rather than anything else.has not history proved it once and again that none will carry anything from this planet even to the grave ,forget heavens? i hope sense(common) prevails while endorsing claims of such high magnitude by people of repute.75%of the fortune 500 companies (present in 1975) have not even survived to see this day?